Sources: Colin Kaepernick would play for Redskins if they offered a job

If the Washington Redskins are willing to pick up the phone and call Colin Kaepernick, two sources close to the former NFL quarterback said he is ready and willing to play for the franchise.

The sources told Yahoo Sports on Sunday that Kaepernick remains willing to play for any NFL team that wants to offer him a job. Both stressed that “any NFL team” includes the Redskins, in spite of longstanding criticism over the team’s logo and name, as well as team owner Dan Snyder having been one of the most critical owners on the issue of players kneeling during the national anthem.

Asked if Kaepernick would be willing to play for the Redskins as early as next week, one source replied, “He’s a professional Super Bowl-caliber quarterback and in the best shape of his life and he would play if given the opportunity on any NFL team.”

“No call for a job, no call for a tryout, no calls period – nothing,” one source said.

As it stands, Kaepernick is in the final stages of a collusion case against the NFL that alleges the league conspired to keep him out after he began kneeling during the national anthem in 2016. Multiple NFL players adopted Kaepernick’s protest in 2017, hoping to draw attention to social justice and racial inequality issues. The actions sparked a political firestorm from President Donald Trump and the furor became such a central issue for the league for nearly one year that it instituted a rule that banned protests during the national anthem. That rule has since been shelved by the NFL and now appears to be dead, for all intents and purposes.

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Colin Kaepernick at Harvard

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Colin Kaepernick at Harvard

Former NFL football quarterback Colin Kaepernick is seated on stage during W.E.B. Du Bois Medal ceremonies, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018, at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass. Kaepernick is among eight recipients of Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Medals in 2018. Harvard has awarded the medal since 2000 to people whose work has contributed to African and African-American culture. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Pressed about his reticence to signing Kaepernick this past week, Gruden suggested the decision had nothing to do with the collusion case or political implications. Instead, Gruden said the conclusion came down to having to “teach a whole new offense with a lot of zone-reads.” This despite Kaepernick having run a Super Bowl offense under Jim Harbaugh that contained zone reads and featured other similarities to the scheme currently run in Washington.

“There’s not a lot of time to get a brand-new quarterback and system installed in a couple of days,” Gruden said when discussing Kaepernick earlier in the week. “He’s been talked about, but we’ll probably go in a different direction. … [The decision is] just football. Strictly football. When you’re talking about a backup quarterback this late in the game you want someone with a similar skill set to the quarterback you have. Not that Colin can’t do some of the things we’ve talked about. We want someone with a little more familiarity.”